Anchor hoist and holder



June 3, 1958 M, R K 2,837,050

ANCHOR HOIST AND HOLDER Filed Feb. 7, 1955 m I' M INVENTORQ MORRIS FRANKATTORNEY United States Patent ANCHOR HOIST AND HOLDER Morris Frank,Cedar Springs, Mich.

Application February 7, 1955, Serial No. 486,668

Claims. (Cl. 114-210) This invention relates to anchor hoists and morepar-' ticularly to a bracket designed for raising and lowering a seaanchor and for storing the sea anchor in horizontal rather than verticalposition. i

The conventional bracket or hoist for sea anchors stores the anchor invertical position. This arrangement results in the weight of the anchorbeing supported solely by the anchor cable. Over a period of time theweight of the anchor tends to withdraw more and more of the anchorcable, thus lowering the anchor. Further, unless the anchor is wellsecured, it will tend to rock with the motion of the boat, resulting indamage to the boats finish.

In the conventional, small water craft of the type for which thisinvention is designed, the only other solution to this problem has beento lift the anchor into the boat. Normally, the anchor brings into theboat quantities of mud and Water which must subsequently be cleaned out.This latter is a tedious and unpleasant task. I

This invention solves this problem by providing a bracket designed tosupport the anchor in horizontal rather than vertical position while instorage. Thus, the anchor cable or rope is entirely relieved of theweight of the anchor and there is no tendency for it to pay-out underthe urging of the anchor. The bracket provides a suitable storage spaceextending beyond the edge of the boat, permitting the mud and waterbrought up by the anchor to be discharged outside the boat.

This invention provides such a bracket which is compact and particularlyadapted to small water craft.

These and other objects and purposes of this invention will be readilyunderstood by those acquainted with the design and use of marineaccessories upon reading the following specification and theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view of my anchor bracket.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of my anchor bracket showing a fragmentof the boat hull and the anchor in stored position in phantom.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of my anchor bracket.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates the bowof a boat. To the bow 10 there has been installed one of my anchorbrackets 11. The anchor bracket has a base plate 12 of generally greaterwidth at its forward end than at its rearward end. The forward end ofthe base plate 12 is bifurcated to provide a slot 13 for reception ofthe pulley 14. Above the rearward portion of the slot 14 and extendingupwardly from the upper surface of the base plate 12 is a forward guideloop 15. The center of the guide loop 15 is coincident with the centerline of the pulley 14 to facilitate the passage of the upper end of theanchor therethrough. The forward guide loop 15 may be cast as anintegral part of the base plate 12 or it may be fabricated separatelyand secured by suitable means such as welding or screws.

The opening 16 within the guide loop is of suiiicient size to providefree passage for the upper end of the anchor as it is pulled up into thebracket and navigates the 90 2,837,050- Patented June 3, 1958 turnnecessary to change it from its normal, vertical position to itshorizontal, storage position.

Adjacent the rearward end of the base plate 12 is a rearward guide loop17 of substantially smaller size than the forward guide loop 15. Therearward guide loop has a central opening 18 aligned with the centerline of the pulley 14 and the opening 16 of the forward guide loop 15.The rearward guide loop provides a guide for the cable or chain 19 bywhich the anchor is attached. The guide loops 15 and 17 serve asfair-leads for the cab1e'19 as the anchor enters and leaves the bracketand its attitude is changed from vertical to horizontal. Like theforward guide loop 15, the rearward guide 17 may either becast integralwith the base plate 12 or it may be'fabricated separately and secured tothe base plate 12 by suitable means such as welding or screws.

Depending below the base plate 12 are a pair of cars 25, one adjacent toand on each side of the slot 13. The ears 25 are apertured near theirlower end for reception of the pulley shaft 26. The pulley shaft 26 isdesigned to be stationary and the pulley 14 to be freely rotatablethereon.

The outer ends of the pulley shaft 26 extend outwardly and provide themeans for securing the upper ends of the spaced guide arms 27. Thespaced guide arms are somewhat 0 shaped and as they extend downwardlyfrom the shaft 26 they project forwardly to provide a guide for theanchor 28. The shape of these arms is such that as the anchor approachesthe bracket the lower portion or cup 29 of the anchor will strike thelower and rearwardly curved portion of the guide arms. Thereafter, asthe anchor is drawn further upwardly, the shape of the guide arms 27causes the anchor to s'wing forwardly, thus causing it to tilt about thepulley 14. This eases its movement about the pulley permitting theanchor to be rotated about its longitudinal axis to bring it to rest ina horizontal position within the anchor bracket.

A pair of the guide arms 27 are provided, one being positioned on eachside of the pulley. By this arrangement, conflict between the guide armsand the attachment eye 30 of the anchor is eliminated. On the lower endsthe guide arms are joined by a cross piece 31. The cross piece 31, atits center, is attached to the bow of the boat by a suitable fastenersuch as the screw 32. The guide arms are further braced by anintermediate cross piece 33 so shaped that it will not interfere withthe movement of the anchor into and out of the bracket.

To assure proper tracking of the cable or chain 19 over the pulley 14,the pulley is provided with a shallow, central channel 37 which has onlysuflicient depth to assure centering of the cable.

In order to hold the anchor 28 firmly, once it has been properly seatedon the bracket, a pair of stops or snubbers 38 extend from the forwardend of the bracket. The stops 38 are spaced apart sufiiciently and areof suflicient length that when the anchor is pulled into fully retractedposition they contact the inside of the anchors cup. This prevents itfrom swaying to either side.

It will be recognized that the anchor, when held in horizontal positionas shown in Fig. 2, may be firmly held against accidental lowering withonly a slight tension on the cable 19. Thus, there will be no tendencyfor the cable to loosen and release the anchor. Further, the anchor ispositively held where it will not roll or rock from side to side due tothe motion of the boat. Further, it is held where it cannot possiblycontact the side of the boat and cause damage to the boats finish.

The shape of the lower guide arms 27 is such that the anchor is guidedinto and out of its storage position with a minimum of pull required onthe cable. Thus,

the bracket may be usedwith only a fraction of the energy t would berequired if it were necessary to forcibly lift the anchor and place itin the horizontal position.

It will be noted in Fig. 2 that a substantial portion of the bracketincluding the pulley14; projects jbeyond-the' Thus, the lower portion ofthe anchor,

bow of the boat. that being the portion which normally is coated withmud,

is never brought into the boat but remains suspended over- 7 the amountthe user wishes to invest in the bracket and the particularcircumstances under which it is desired to use the bracket. If the boatis tobe used on fresh water, inland rivers and lakes, aluminum may besatisfactory. Where, however, the bracket is to be used on boatsnavigating on salt water, it generally will be necessary to fabricatethe bracket from brass.

It will be seen that the bracket is simple in construction and may bereadily attached to boats of many different conventional designs withoutinjury to the boat and without modification of the boats structure.Furthermore, the brackets position is at the extreme bow of the boatwhere it will not occupy any otherwise useful area of the boat.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it willbe recognized that various modifications of this invention may be madewithout departing from the principles thereof. Each of thesemodifications is to be considered as included in the hereinafterappended claims unless these claims, by their language, expressly stateotherwise.

I claim:

1. A bracket for storing a sea anchor supported by a flexible elementcomprising: a normally horizontal base plate; a guide pulley rotatablymounted adjacent one end of said plate; a fairlead on said plate forsaid flexible element; a convex guide member below said plate adapted toengage said anchor and initiate its travel over and about said pulley.

2. A bracket -for storing a sea anchor supported by a flexible elementcomprising: an elongated normally horizontal base plate; a guide pulleyrotatably mounted adjacent one end of said plate; a fairlead on saidplate for said flexible element; a pair of vertically arranged, spacedconvex guide members below said plate, said guide members being situatedone on each side of said pulley and adapted to engage said anchor andinitiate its travel over and about said pulley.

3. A bracket for storing a sea anchor supported by a flexible elementcomprising: an elongated normally horizontal base plate; a guide pulleyrotatably mounted adjacent one end of said plate; a pair of fairleads onsaid plate, said fairleads being spaced longitudinally of said plate andadapted to guide said flexible element; a convex guide member belowsaidplate adapted to engage said anchor and initiate its travel over andabout said pulley.

4. A bracket for storing a sea anchor supported by a flexible element,said bracket comprising: an elongated normally horizontal base platebifurcated at one end; means fixedly secured to said plate for rotatablymounting a pulley below said plate; a pulley rotatably mountedbelow-said plate with 'a portion thereof received into the bifurcatedend of said plate; the top of said pulley being substantially in theplane of the upper surface of said plate; a fairlead on said plate forsaid flexible element; a convex guide member below said plate adapted toengage said anchor and initiate its travel over and about said pulley.

5. A bracket for storing a sea anchor having an enlarged base and anelongated neck secured to a flexible element for supporting said anchorcomprising: a normally horizontal base plate; a guide pulley rotatablymounted adjacent one end of said plate, said guide pulley being adaptedto receive said flexible element and said elongated neck; a fair lead onsaid plate for said flexible element References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,640,672 Schauman Aug. 30, 19272,554,804 Amundsen May 29, 1951 2,632,418 Gronquist Mar. 24, 19532,718,865 Kurzmann Sept. 27, 1955

